Detour Paris: Detour Paris Series Book 1

Tucker Blue, an advertising man and newly-minted mid-life bachelor, is about to fly off on a European holiday to Barcelona with his flight attendant girlfriend when an unexpected love-at-first-sight encounter with the beguiling Monica Reyes lures him into a romantic rendezvous of every man’s fantasy. The plane overbooks leaving Tucker and Monica to find an alternate flight.

They fly to London and catch the Eurostar to Paris then continue across France to the Pyrenees burning up the rails in a hilarious erotic escapade. When Tucker is just about to reach the Promised Land with Monica, a dead man bearing a gift of unimaginable wealth drops in unannounced, bestowing a winning lottery ticket worth 120 million euros upon the unwitting man.

It was foul play that brought the ticket into Tucker's possession; he's sure of it. He's also certain that killers are hot on their trail to reclaim it at any cost. He's told Monica nothing about this windfall of good luck, not because he has qualms about sharing the winnings, but because he’s afraid that her knowing might put her in greater danger. Even so, if she learns about the ticket, she’s bound to think he intends to cheat her out of her fair share. Tucker has a dilemma. Give up the money for love or give up love for the money. It’s a tough choice, or is it? It may not be a choice at all as storms gather in search of the treasure that Tucker’s now hidden in a 2000-year-old Roman Aqueduct.

When simmering jealousies finally boil over into a catfight between Monica and Tucker’s now-ex-girlfriend, Monica abruptly bails, and unknowingly, spoils a kidnapping-in-progress leaving both the ex and Monica’s original traveling companion to the mercies of a handsome Castilian bartender. The captives not only become pawns in an ever-expanding search for the missing lottery ticket, but also bait for a 400-year-old Spanish Prisoner scam.

Meanwhile, Tucker is busily fighting his own kidnapping (or is he?) following a blindsided attack by a beautiful Barcelona Domme/flight attendant that has him blindfolded and tethered to a dog leash for a cat-o-three-tail whipping.

And as if all this weren’t enough and with uncertainties of trust and love threatening to divide the couple, they find themselves caught up in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a powerful yet obscure adversary. The anonymous Raven - an unassuming local doctor by day and major crime figure leading a guerrilla army under the guise of Catalan Independence any other time - wants her lottery ticket back, and she’ll do anything to get it.

When the two lovers find themselves running for their lives and vacating luxury hotel rooms across Barcelona in their wake, they finally take a stand and recruit help beginning with Dick’s Dicks, a private detective agency. The flamboyant owner, Dick, not only stalks the stalkers but also brings enough high tech resources to bear to make even James Bond envious.

But is it enough? Can these two lovers possibly triumph over an evil so resolute and “out there” that skinning the faces of young women and posting their empty sacks along the watchtowers of a castle counts for nothing more than entertainment to past the time?
Can they find answers in the funeral for the dead man who brought this accursed gift of wealth into their lives in the first place?

Detour Paris is a hilarious, sexy, and romantic thriller told from the point of view of a man. (Inspired by an actual dating experience, Detour Paris is for mature audiences.)